Temperatures are sliding as rain spreads across Tennessee in advance of a strong cold front.

By dawn Monday, the temperature at Memphis International Airport had dropped from a high on Sunday of 77 degrees to a current reading of 45 degrees. Temperatures are forecast to slip throughout Monday, bottoming near freezing early Tuesday.

Rain covered a broad section of the state and was headed east.

Dyersburg read 43 degrees at dawn, Jackson was 51.

Ahead of the temperature drop-off, Chattanooga had 63 degrees at sunrise and Knoxville reported 61. Showers were expected to begin in both cities by midmorning and lows Tuesday were forecast to reach near freezing. The expected low in the Tri-Cities early Tuesday is 26 degrees.